Welcome to the Spring 2011 issue of Databits! This “bumper” edition of our information management newsletter contains 20 interesting articles, from 16 authors, representing 12 LTER sites.
This is a time of increasing change, with external funding agencies and people both internal and external to our network realizing the value of effective research data management. In this edition, we have evidence that information management in the LTER network is alive and well and making great progress in response to new demands. The volume of articles submitted for this issue demonstrates just how much is going on in the information management arena.
Inside, you will find interesting articles describing network-sponsored workshops; commentaries on a wide range of experiences; descriptions of collaborations between sites; summaries of good external informatics and technology articles; and pointers to useful tools that can support our activities. This is an exciting issue with something for everyone.
In particular, this issue contains several articles from our colleagues in San Diego. Is this because they are clearing out the cupboards? Apparently, it is. We are sad to note that Karen Baker and Mason Kortz are moving on to pastures new. No spoilers (read the article!), but the editors would like to be some of the first, and we are sure not the last, to thank Karen and Mason for their significant contributions to their sites (PAL and CCE), the LTER Network, and especially the IM community. We wish you well in your new endeavors. You will be missed.
Now we know you will want to read on. So, don’t delay. Proceed to your nearest purveyor of premium, organically grown, coffee products, with your smartphone, netbook, iPad, or laptop, under your arm. Pause just long enough to order a “moccochoccovanilla, double something” and dive right in!
—– Co-editors: Philip Tarrant (CAP) and John Chamblee (CWT)
Table of Contents
| Featured Articles | ||
| Network identity: 2009 All-Site Milestone and Reflection on Governance | Karen S. Baker, Nicole Kaplan | 2 |
| Making Space for Information Management | Joan Donovan | 2 |
| LTER Information Management: Continuing Education and Site Change | Karen Baker and Mason Kortz | 2 |
| Technical Roles: Am I In IT? | Shaun Haber | 3 |
| Review: The PersonnelDB Design and Development Workshop | Mason Kortz | 4 |
| Commentary | ||
| Systems Upgrade through Technology Transfer across LTERs: Who Benefits? | John F. Chamblee and Wade Sheldon | 6 |
| Putting it Out There – Making the Transition to Open Source Software Development | Wade Sheldon | 7 |
| Information Management, in situ: the value of embedding an IM in a Synthesis Working Group | M. Gastil-Buhl | 8 |
| Notes on Design | James Conners | 8 |
| Information Management, Data Repositories, and Data Curation | Karen Baker | 8 |
| Telling the Story of the LTER Information: Seizing Opportunities | Eda Melendez-Colom | 9 |
| Reducing data complications while capturing data complexity | Margaret O’Brien and M. Gastil-Buhl | 10 |
| Challenges and Opportunities Offered by the NIS | Margaret O’Brien and Don Henshaw | 11 |
| Good Tools and Programs | ||
| Wordle: Tool for Generating Text Visualization | Karen Baker | 12 |
| Managing Controlled Vocabularies with “TemaTres” | John Porter | 12 |
| Validating Metadata at the VCR LTER | Bridget Long | 12 |
| Good Reads | ||
| Communicating Science | Jonathan Walsh | 13 |
| A Special Issue of Science on Data | Karen Baker | 13 |
| Collaborative, Cross-disciplinary Learning | Karen Baker | 14 |
| The Dark Side of the Internet | Philip Tarrant | 14 |
| Calendar | 15 |
